Glossary

A

Airdrop

a free distribution of tokens among specific participants.

Altcoin

all cryptocurrencies, except Bitcoin, are called altcoins.

Application Programming Interface (API)

a mechanism that allows two programs to interact with each other through a series of protocols.

Annual Percentage Yield (APY)

a calculated yearly interest rate for a given asset.

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B

Bearish

the term “bearish” is used when the price of an asset has declined due to investors selling. (The term is often used to describe the overall market sentiment.)

Binance

a major cryptocurrency exchange. Website.

Bitcoin (BTC)

the preeminent cryptocurrency and the first decentralized network with open-source code, which laid the groundwork for the proliferation of blockchain technology. Wikipedia.

Blockchain

a distributed ledger of data in the form of a chain of blocks recording transaction information for every event on the network.

Bag of Cells (BoC)

serialization format for cells. Commonly used in code. Article.

Bot

a program written for two ecosystems to interact with each other — e.g., The Open Network and the Telegram messenger. On Telegram, bots are accounts in the messenger operated by software.

Bridge

a program connecting various blockchains to transfer tokens and data from one network to another. Article.

Bullish

the term “bullish” is used to describe an asset whose value is appreciating. (“Bullish” is the opposite of “bearish” — i.e., when the market’s overall value is increasing.)

Burning

the act of permanently removing tokens from circulating and total supply.

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C

Centralized exchange (CEX)

a centralized cryptocurrency exchange to trade tokens.

CoinMarketCap (CMC)

a crypto information aggregator that closely follows changes in token prices and market capitalization. Website.

Coinbase

a major cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States. Website.

Cryptobot

a peer-to-peer (P2P) bot service for buying, trading, and selling Toncoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Custodial

a type of crypto wallet where a third party stores cryptocurrencies, and not their true owner.

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D

Decentralized application (dApp)

applications run on-chain and rely on smart contracts for computation, storage, and communication.

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA)

an investment strategy whereby investors buy a fixed amount at regular intervals regardless of price to reduce timing risk.

Decentralization

one of the main tenets behind TON and other blockchains. Without decentralization, Web3 would be impossible to achieve; therefore, every element of the TON ecosystem revolves around maximizing decentralization.

DeFi

the decentralized analog to traditional finance; it includes accessible financial services and applications based on smart contracts.

Decentralized exchange (DEX)

an exchange where users can trade cryptocurrencies without any intermediaries. The online entity needed to guarantee safe transactions is the blockchain itself.

Diamond hands

a colloquial term describing an investor who has no intention of selling their assets regardless of the state of the market — even if there’s a crash or the market is bearish.

Domain Name System (DNS)

a technology that translates human-readable domain names (e.g. ton.org) to machine-readable IP addresses (e.g. 192.0.2.44).

Dolphin

an investor who has relatively small capital but has an influence on the community.

Donate

a bot service on Telegram through which people can donate money, and content creators can monetize their channels and services in Toncoin.

Dump

rapidly selling a cryptocurrency or asset, often causing a price decline.

Durov

Pavel Durov, a Russian entrepreneur who is famous for having founded the VK social network and Telegram messenger.

Nikolai Durov is Pavel’s brother, who helped develop VK, Telegram, and TON.

Do Your Own Research (DYOR)

the process by which you do research on a project, company or cryptocurrency before deciding to invest.

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E

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

a machine behaving like a decentralized computer, it computes the state of the Ethereum blockchain after each new block and executes smart contracts.

Exchange

a place for trading and using other market instruments.

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F

Farming

lending your crypto assets to receive rewards.

Fiat

regular money issued by central banks or financial authorities.

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

a psychological state that consumes some investors when the idea of losing potential gains from an opportunity is present. It usually appears during a bull market and when traders don’t do their due diligence analyzing a particular project.

Fungible tokens

cryptocurrencies that carry the same value as any other token of the same kind at any given moment.

FUD

“fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” market sentiments based on many factors.

Full node

a computer on blockchain that synchronizes and copies the entire blockchain.

FunC

the smart contract language on TON.

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G

Gas

the fee paid for transactions on the blockchain.

GitHub

a platform for hosting code and collaborating via Git repositories.

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H

Hackathon

a collaborative event where programmers and builders develop software projects.

Hash

a fixed-size digest computed from data using a hashing algorithm.

Hash rate

the indication of how much computational power is being used on a network for crypto mining.

Hold

saving — i.e., not selling — an asset or assets from your portfolio.

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I

Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

a method for crypto projects to attract capital in the early stages.

Initial Decentralized exchange Offering (IDO)

a method of attracting capital when launching a cryptocurrency or token on a decentralized exchange.

Inflation

the process when the value of a currency — e.g., U.S. dollar or the euro — decreases. Toncoin has predictable issuance and a low inflation rate.

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K

Know Your Customer (KYC)

the process by which a user verifies their identity when creating an account for a crypto service.

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L

Launchpad

a platform for crypto startups that brings investors and projects together.

Liquidity pool

grouping together crypto assets and freezing them in a smart contract. Liquidity pools are used for decentralized trading, loans, and other endeavors.

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M

Mainnet

the main network of a blockchain. Article.

Market capitalization (market cap)

the total market value of a cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.

Masterchain

the main chain that references shard and workchain blocks; a shard block is finalized once a Masterchain block references it.

Metaverse

a digital universe similar to a video game where users create avatars and interact with the digital representations of other people or users.

Moon

a crypto term that describes a crypto asset’s vertical trajectory on a price chart — i.e., it quickly gains value.

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N

”Not financial advice” (NFA)

acronym used as a disclaimer to avoid liability or responsibility when investors discuss cryptocurrencies or projects with other people.

Non-fungible token (NFT)

a unique digital token on a blockchain that cannot be duplicated or minted more than once.

Nominator

those who provide financial resources to validators so the latter can confirm blocks on TON blockchain.

Non-custodial

a kind of crypto wallet that gives full control over assets to the owner/user.

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O

Off-ramp

ways to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat money.

On-ramp

ways to convert (buy) cryptocurrency by spending fiat money.

Onion routing

a technology similar to Tor that allows anonymous interactions on a network. All messages are encrypted in various layers akin to an onion. TON Proxy applies such a technique.

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P

Paper hands

an investor who’s inclined to panic-sell — an inexperienced investor.

Proof-of-stake

a consensus mechanism to process transactions in new blocks on the blockchain.

Proof-of-work

a consensus algorithm where one party proves to another that a specific amount of computational work was spent. By expending a little energy, a party can verify this.

Proxy

a service on a computer network that allows clients to establish indirect network connections with other network services.

Pump

artificially inflating the price of a cryptocurrency or asset.

Peer-to-peer (P2P)

transactions among users without the help of a third party or intermediary.

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R

Roadmap

a project’s strategic plan that displays when its products, services, updates, etc. will be released.

Return on investment (ROI)

the profits made from investments.

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S

Soulbound token (SBT)

an NFT that can never be transferred because it contains information about its owner and their accomplishments.

Scalability

the ability of a blockchain network to process complex transactions as well as a large number of them.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

a financial regulator in the United States. Website.

Shard

a mechanism that helps a blockchain network to scale by breaking into smaller blockchains to relieve network congestion — something which TON blockchain does.

Smart contract

self-executing code that oversees and enables operations with the help of mathematical algorithms and without human intervention.

Spot trading

trading a financial asset for money.

Stablecoin

a cryptocurrency that aims to maintain a stable value (often pegged to a fiat currency).

Staking

a way for users to earn a passive income by storing coins or tokens in a proof-of-stake algorithm, which, in turn, ensures the blockchain runs smoothly. For this, they earn rewards as an incentive.

Swap

the exchange of two financial assets — e.g., Toncoin for USDT.

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T

TON Enhancement Proposals (TEPs)

a standard set of ways to interact with various parts of the TON ecosystem.

Testnet

a network for testing projects or services before launching on the mainnet.

Ticker

the short form of a cryptocurrency, asset, or token on exchanges, trading services, or other DeFi solutions — e.g. TON for Toncoin.

The Merge

the transition process of Ethereum switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

Token

a form of digital asset; it can have multiple functions.

Tokenomics

the economic plan and distribution strategy of a cryptocurrency (or token).

To the moon

a colloquial phrase used when people create FOMO. It refers to hopefuls wanting the value of a cryptocurrency rapidly gaining a lot of value — hence its trajectory to the moon.

Toncoin

the native cryptocurrency of the TON ecosystem, which is used to develop services and pay for fees and services. It can be bought, sold, and traded.

Trading

buying and selling cryptocurrencies with the goal of making a profit.

Total Value Locked (TVL)

the total value of assets currently locked (e.g. staked) in a specific protocol.

TON Virtual Machine (TVM)

a machine that behaves like a decentralized computer; it computes the state of the TON blockchain after each new block and executes smart contracts.

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V

Validator

those who verify new blocks on TON blockchain.

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W

“We’re all gonna make it” (WAGMI)

a sentence often used in the crypto community to express the aspirations of becoming rich one day by investing in cryptocurrencies.

Wallet

an application that manages private keys and assets for sending, receiving, and storing cryptocurrencies. A Telegram bot (e.g., @wallet) also provides wallet functions within the TON ecosystem.

Web3

a new generation of the internet based on blockchain technology that includes decentralization and tokenomics.

Whale

an investor who owns a large number of cryptocurrencies and tokens.

White paper

the main document of a project written by its developers. It explains the technology and the project’s goals.

Watchlist

a customizable list of cryptocurrencies whose price action an investor wishes to follow.

Workchain

secondary chains that connect to the masterchain. They can contain a massive number of different connected chains that have their own consensus rules. They can also contain address and transaction information and virtual machines for smart contracts. Additionally, they can be compatible with the masterchain and interact with one another.

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Y

Yield farming

lending or placing cryptocurrencies or tokens in a smart contract to earn rewards in the form of transaction fees.